New Player prep

[Doubleplay]

With the all the content additions we have occuring now, there is a chance that we can draw new players to UO. Witness the recent posts by older players who are contemplating starting again. Word of mouth will see many new people show up. I have a suggestion that would help us retain them.

We should have good equipment available for use by new players. While they have the new status (paying customers only), they should get a reasonable amount of starting cash, perhaps 1M, have free access to new player armor that is first class, and first class weaponry. These items (except the gold) would only work while that player carries the "new" tag. This will give them time to experience UO dungeons, the abyss, pvp and etc. Stats would increase dramatically during the trial period, reducing to starting levels when the player loses the "new" title.

Given the chance to experience Ultima the way that us oldtimers experience it may whet their appetite and lure them to stay to start building their characters.

 

[iamSnippa]

I like it, and I agree.
I want to see an influx of new players who will end up staying in the game.

 

[sayler04]

I'm curious about something.

Recently, in-game, I've seen alot of people in global chat saying that they're new to UO. Which is great, seriously, I'm glad to see it after all these years. What I can't figure out, though, is how the hell these new players are discovering UO to begin with? Maybe its just cuz I've been playing for over a decade, but I havn't seen any ads for UO in years that I can remember. I never see anything about it in software stores, certainly never advertised on tv or in magazines, and even when I see periodical references to it it is rarely in a particularly favorable light.

All the new players, lately, strike me as DESPITE finds; they're trying out UO for the first time DESPITE the fact that there doesn't seem to be any kind of marketing in existence. I'm guessing its all word of mouth, but if we're expanding DESPITE a lack of marketing, imagine how much we could expand THANKS TO a marketing push!

If any new players are reading this, please, I beg you, tell the story of how you ended up in Sosaria, which for several years has skirted the line on becoming a secret society!

 

[Woodsman]

What I can't figure out, though, is how the hell these new players are discovering UO to begin with?

UO gets mentioned on the MMO sites a lot, usually in the past tense, but it still gets mentioned.

If you have an RSS reader setup, have it scan news.google.com for mentions of "Ultima Online". Also add the feeds for Gamasutra, Massively.Joystiq.com, MMMORPG.com, etc., and just keep an eye out.

As an example, this is a front-page story from Joystiq yesterday and Joystiq is a very popular website. UO gets a mention:

Some Assembly Required: An early look at Dawntide

This is also from yesterday - Gamasutra, a website about the gaming industry. UO is mentioned in the first paragraph:

Raph Koster Talks Loss, Opportunity For Games In The Social Media Age

 

[sayler04]

Thanks woodsman, that answered my question precisely!